North Carolina faces a shortfall of 466,523 jobs as of April 2011 due to the jobs lost since the start of the Great Recession and the continued growth of the working‐age population.

The lack of jobs available to North Carolina workers has driven unemployment to the highest level of the past four recessions. The average duration of unemployment spells experienced by North Carolina's workers has increased from 13.7 weeks in December 2007 to 18.2 weeks in April 2011.1

In April 2011, 37,000 unemployed workers in North Carolina lost their extended benefits, with an estimated 2,100 workers added to that number every week. Job loss affects all counties, and the loss of extended benefits impacts workers in every county.